


a wave on your shore

by Serie11



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Surfers, Anniversary, Cats, Celebrations, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gift Giving, Love, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 05:23:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21248144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serie11/pseuds/Serie11
Summary: Kairi finds a stray cat and tries to find it a home.Sora continues his campaign to get apple pie on the menu at the local café.Riku attempts to train for his upcoming surfing competition by diving for shells.Somehow, all of these things are connected.





	a wave on your shore

**Author's Note:**

  * For [addove](https://archiveofourown.org/users/addove/gifts).

Kairi is heading home, a bag of groceries slung over her shoulder, when she hears the meow.

Stopping just past the flower shop that Naminé loves, she peers down beside the building, trying to see if the sound was a call for help or just an announcement of territory claimed. Beyond the compost bins that the flower shop must own, she can’t see much – until a tail flicks out, revealing where someone might be sitting, just out of sight.

Kairi tip-toes forward, eyes darting around for anything that could alarm her, or her quarry. When she pokes her head around the bins, she sees that she was likely right to worry – the cat is lying on its side, and doesn’t dart away as she approaches, as she would assume most cats would. Narrowing her eyes, she looks it over. There isn’t a large population of feral cats on the island, or really one at all. Her father has a strict ban on bringing cats onto Destiny Island soil in order to try and preserve the natural wildlife, so to see one out and about is strange.

“Hey there,” she whispers, crouching down. The cat finally looks at her. She’s pretty sure it must be young – or maybe it’s just small? Either way, she can’t really leave it out here by itself. “Do you want to come with me?”

The cat meows again, and while she’s pretty sure that’s an answer, she doesn’t know what exactly the cat is saying. She’s never really interacted with one before now. She gingerly puts her hand out, and over the course of a few minutes, persuades the cat to let her pat it.

“Okay, I’m glad we’re friends now,” Kairi says. “But the thing is, I can’t just leave you here, even to go and find someone else who might know something about cats. So that means you have to come with me.” She reaches back to secure her groceries more firmly, and then scoops the cat up, ignoring its protests. The cat immediately starts to try and wriggle out of her grasp, but she has a firm hold on it.

“My house is too far away for me to put up with this the whole time,” Kairi huffs as she jogs to the nearest place she knows will shelter her and her unruly passenger. She’s glad that the town is so small, and that her sister lives in town instead of on the string of houses that claims part of the shoreline, like hers.

When she reaches Naminé’s door, she realises her dilemma.

“Naminé!” she yells. “I can’t knock, are you home?”

She kicks the door a little to try and simulate a knock, and is in the middle of pulling her leg back for another try when the door opens. Her sister looks her over, sees the crying cat in her arms, and sighs. “Come in.”

Kairi gratefully does. “Are all your windows and doors shut?” she asks, wincing as the cat finds her arm and sinks sharp claws into it.

“I’ll close the kitchen window,” Naminé says, striding forward to do just that. Kairi follows her, and as soon as the kitchen window slides shut, she drops her recalcitrant passenger, who immediately darts past the third person in the room.

“Where did you find a cat?”

Kairi lifts her arm to inspect the tiny beads of blood that have been inflicted in the struggle. When she does look up, Xion has an eyebrow raised, and is watching where the cat disappeared underneath the coffee table.

“Behind the flower shop in town,” Kairi sighs.

“I’ll close up the other rooms so that we can keep track of where he goes,” Naminé suggests.

“Good idea,” Xion nods. “Lea’s cats are always finding weird places to hide. And if this one doesn’t know the lay of the area, he’ll probably want to find somewhere to hide before he can investigate it.”

“Hm, Lea does have cats, doesn’t he,” Kairi says. “I always forget because their bookshop is so big and they’re always napping in the sun somewhere.”

Xion laughs. “Yeah, they’re pretty lazy. It’s strange that you found a cat outside, though – it’s pretty hard to get them in to the Islands, right?”

“Yeah,” Kairi says, frowning. “I’ll probably go up to the wildlife preserve to get him checked out.”

“That is the closest thing to a vet that we have on this island,” Xion agrees. “But how are you going to get him there?”

Transport the cat… just carrying him really hadn’t worked out. She would have to think of something else.

Naminé comes back into the kitchen. “I closed off everything but this main area – he hasn’t moved, has he?”

“Nope,” Kairi says. She watches as Naminé settles herself back next to Xion. There are two cooling cups of tea on the counter, snuggled next to each other, far closer than the two women were. Kairi resists the urge to slap her forehead at the sight. Her sister’s attempts at flirting were… well, ‘not going well’ is probably enough to sum it up.

“I have to get to work soon, but I’m sure the two of you will be able to figure something out,” Xion says wryly.

Kairi offers her fist across the kitchen table, and Naminé bumps it in solidarity.

“We’ll think of something,” Naminé says.

Kairi eyes the coffee table, and starts coming up with a plan.

* * *

It’s a busy day in the bakery, the gentle murmur of conversation in the background keeping the mood light for everyone. Sora grins widely at the couple sitting near the window as he sets down their orders, and heads back into the kitchen area so he can start the stocktake for the end of the day. Roxas is still at the counter, so when the door chimes to let him know that someone else is here, Sora doesn’t have to worry about it.

It’s not until Ven sticks his head through the door that Sora realises that his friends must have come in.

“Hey Sora,” Ven says, grinning. “How were things today?”

“Pretty good!” Sora replies. He quickly finishes counting the row of baking materials, and sticks the sheet in front of it so he knows where he’s up to. “How was your day off?”

“Calm,” Ven says. “Vanitas convinced me to go island hopping, and we explored a few islands that don’t have any permanent human presence, so there was no one for him to antagonise.”

“Sounds like the two of you had fun,” Sora says. “I can’t believe you managed to convince him to go out with your during the day – when is he supposed to sleep?!”

Ven shakes his head, but he’s still smiling. “Don’t make fun of him – he’s not that nocturnal.”

Sora says nothing, but he looks at Ven in a way that asks if Ven is really sure about that.

“He’s not,” Ven laughs. “Anyway, come out, I want to talk to you guys about some stuff.”

“Sure.” Sora follows Ven out just in time to see Roxas flipping over the sign on the door that pronounces them closed. His friend immediately returns to behind the counter and starts making more coffee. The reason is obvious – there is someone sprawled across the countertop, making some strange sounds that could be taken for human words if they weren’t so slurred.

“Vanitas, get off the counter,” Ven scolds him.

“I’m really not seeing evidence that he isn’t nocturnal here,” Sora comments, and that gets Vanitas to sit up. His brother scowls at him – there’s a new piercing in his lip, Sora notes. When did he get that?

“I just need some goddamn coffee,” Vanitas growls.

“I’m getting there,” Roxas placates.

“You were fine until we got back,” Ven says, scratching his head.

“That’s because I wasn’t reminded that civilised things like _coffee _exist until we came back to the best place on these islands.” As soon as Roxas puts Vanitas’s coffee on the counter in front of him, he grabs it and starts drinking, despite the fact that he has his coffee black and it must be scalding hot. Sora just shakes his head and pulls up a chair for himself and Ven. As soon as Vanitas has half his coffee drained, Sora pounces on him.

“So, Vanitas,” he says, leaning in. “I was wondering… could you bake me an apple pie for the weekend?”

Vanitas narrows his eyes. “I do all the baking in this bakery, Sora. And you already know… I don’t make apple pie. It’s disgusting.”

Sora blinks, putting on his best innocent eyes as a way to try and sway his older brother. “Vani, come on – you know what’s happening on the weekend.”

“Exactly why I don’t want to condone it,” Vanitas grumbles. “You’re all so lovey-dovey as it is. I don’t need to see any more of that.”

“But you used to make apple pies, and they were the _best_,” Sora argues. “No one can beat them! I can’t go with any other apple pie, because they would only pale in comparison to yours. And it’s Riku’s favourite, you know.”

Vanitas eyes him. Roxas puts another coffee down in front of Sora, looking very amused by the entire thing. Ven just sighs from where he’s sitting on Vanitas’s other side.

“As cute as you are, the answer stands,” Vanitas says.

“_Vani,” _Sora complains. He immediately looks to Ven. “Ven, as the owner of the bakery, can you please ask Vanitas to make some apple pie for me?”

Ven picks up his coffee and drinks some. Sora is sure that it’s just a tactic employed to hide his smile. “I’m the owner, yes, but Vanitas is in charge of the kitchen. You know that, Sora. Even though I like apple pie too, and wouldn’t mind one…” Ven makes his own puppy eyes at Vanitas. Vanitas huffs and doesn’t look at Ven.

“You would only give it to the kid,” Vanitas says. “So no.”

“Vanitas,” Sora says, putting on his best serious voice. “Your baking is the best, and I need this by the weekend. How can I make that happen?”

Vanitas stares at him for a few seconds, and then narrows his eyes. Sora gulps, because that’s his conniving look… but he’s in it now. He can’t back down when apple pie is at stake!

“You’re all ridiculous,” Roxas says after Vanitas outlines his terms, shaking his head.

Sora can only stare Vanitas down and agree. “I’ll do it.”

* * *

Swimming without his surfboard at hand is strange.

Riku takes a breath and slips under the surface of the water. It’s also strange swimming with goggles, but they’re necessary for what he wants to do.

He’s always been a good swimmer – his parents have a bustling seafood business, and his first memories are of being out on the water, learning to measure fish to see if they’re large enough to bring in or if they need to be given back to the ocean. On those long boat rides, his parents would always make sure to have a break where he could swim, and so he learned out with the great ocean depths beneath him, and the north sea current pulling him, pulling him, out to sea. Sometimes he wonders if that’s why he’s as good as a swimmer as he is – not those early days of learning, but that deep respect for the ocean, and the knowledge that it always has the power to swallow him up if he makes a single misstep.

The reefs around the islands hold a multitude of fish, and the coral flickers in the dying light of the sun. He needs to be able to see what he’s looking for, so he’ll have to head back in soon. He’s already searched around the east and south sides of his boat, so maybe he’ll finish up here and skim over the west side before he heads back up.

He surfaces with a splash, sucking in deep breaths of air. This would probably be easier if he could snorkel, but he hates having things in his mouth when he’s underwater, so freediving will have to do. He paddles in place for a minute, making sure that his heart is beating at a normal pace before he dives again. He’s out here by himself – it wouldn’t do to make a stupid mistake. The ocean doesn’t leave room for error, but Riku has braved its dark depths before, and he knows how to tread the unsteady paths.

Frustrated, he comes up for air once more. He thought that this might be a good area to search, since the storm last week might have thrown up new debris, but he hasn’t found anything. He should have spent the day out on the further reefs maybe, places where humans rarely go because it’s too easy for a boat’s hull to be ripped into pieces if you don’t know exactly where you’re going. Riku knows, though.

The sun is almost gone, casting the sky into a deep red. _One quick look over the other side where I haven’t been_, Riku thinks to himself, and swims over to that area. He picks a likely looking spot and breathes in deeply before heading down.

Just as he’s about to admit defeat, he spies something pink, half hidden under the sand. He kicks his way down deeper, reaching out for it half desperately. He brushes his fingers against it and grabs it before rising back to the surface. He gasps in a breath as soon as he surfaces, and lets sand trickle away from his hand in order to look at his prize.

The Thalassa shell is whole, and looks like it’s in pristine condition. Riku huffs out a laugh – this is the last one he needed to find. With the deadline coming up soon, he’d been half afraid that he wouldn’t be able to get the last one in time, but here it is, clasped in his hand.

“Just in time,” he murmurs to himself as he swims back to his boat. The sun is just a memory in the sky, and he secures the shell before shaking off most of the excess water. His boat hums under his hands as he starts it up. Even though he can see the islands, he’s stayed out here long enough that it’s low tide now, and he needs to navigate a different way in order to make sure he doesn’t touch the reef. The last light from the sun is just enough to make sure that he can see where he’s going – luckily, he wasn’t too far out today.

His lucky charm catches the last few rays, and Riku glances up at it for a second, to where it’s tied just above the wheel. He still has his charm, even after Kairi and Sora lost theirs on their last flight after their bags vanished, but it disquiets him. It doesn’t feel quite real to have his when they don’t have theirs – maybe his gift is slightly selfish, but he knows that Kairi and Sora will be quite happy with him.

He’s tying up at the pier when he hears someone call his voice. Muttering to himself, Riku tries to pack up quickly, even though he knows that won’t save him.

“Riku! I know you can hear me.”

He keeps his head down as he runs a few final checks over his boat. _Highwind _is his pride and joy, and he doesn’t want anything bad happening to her because he didn’t keep on top of her maintenance. Finally, when he’s packed everything away, noted down today’s journey in the ship’s log, and has grabbed all of his things, he steps off the boat and onto the pier.

Aqua has her arms crossed, and looks quite unimpressed. Riku should have known better than to think that she would go away, even if he deliberately tried to ignore her.

“Riku,” she says. “This does not look like you’ve been surfing.”

“That’s because I haven’t,” he says.

“I tried calling you earlier –”

“I didn’t bring my phone out with me, and even if I did, I was in the water.”

“Without your surfboard!” Aqua gestures to all of him. “This is not surfing gear. Riku, what’s going on? You know how quickly the next comp is coming up.”

Riku sighs, and starts heading down the boardwalk. If Aqua’s going to lecture him, she can do it on his way home. “I know, I know. But there was something else I had to do today.”

“And it took all day?” Aqua presses. “When you asked me to mentor you, I told you that I expected the best.”

Riku tries not to groan. “Aqua, that was years ago – and your coaching is great! I couldn’t have made it to number one if you hadn’t been there. One day off isn’t going to hurt that much.”

“It can when you’re about to fly off across the world to compete,” Aqua challenges. “Conditions today were _excellent._ It would have been a very good day to be out there training.”

“I know,” Riku admits, because even out on the reef he’d been able to see the waves. “But this was more important.”

“What?” Aqua presses.

He sighs and digs a hand into his pocket to delicately retrieve the Thalassa shell and show it to Aqua. Aqua peers at it for a few seconds before her expression softens.

“This is the last one I needed,” Riku tells her. “I can train tomorrow. I looked at the forecast, and the conditions should still be okay.”

“Hm. Just okay,” Aqua agrees. She doesn’t say anything else about today, and Riku sighs in relief. “I expect to see you out there nice and early!”

“The usual place?” Riku asks, and Aqua nods. Argument settled, they make their way across town, planning tomorrow’s training.

* * *

Sora squints as he peers down the street, waiting for his victim to arrive. Vanitas had already had everything on hand needed to make this happen, which probably should concern him, but at this point Sora has just accepted that his older brother can make any type of disaster occur if he wants to. Vanitas was probably already going to pull off this prank, but Sora provided the perfect outlet for it instead. He’s probably sitting somewhere with a great view of this whole thing, giggling to himself.

Two people turn the corner, and Sora gulps. Eraqus and Terra are talking about something, Terra nodding thoughtfully to whatever Eraqus is saying. Sora holds the string in his hands a little tighter. If Eraqus didn’t have such a defined patrol route, this prank probably wouldn’t be possible. As it is, everyone knows pretty much where he’s going to be at any given time… so it means that Sora can do things like this.

He pulls the string.

It’s like it’s in slow motion – the large bucket perched precariously on the rafters tilts to the side, and Sora has timed it perfectly, because the contents of the bucket land directly on Erquas’s head. Terra gets hit as well, but he’s not as covered as his mentor is.

“I’m sorry!” Sora can’t help but yell as Eraqus holds out his arms in bewilderment, and looks up at the bucket that’s mostly empty.

“Sora!” Terra says, scandalised. “Did you do this?”

“Sorry!” Sora yells again. He’s half tempted to scamper off, but it’s not like Eraqus doesn’t know who he is – the police officer can come to his house whenever he wants. Might as well fess up now.

“Sora,” Eraqus says, sounding flustered. “I can’t believe that you’d choose to do this of your own will – who convinced you to do this?”

“I’m acting alone,” Sora says stubbornly, because Vanitas had promised him that if he cracked, there would be no apple pie.

Terra covers his face with a hand while Eraqus’s mouth turns downwards at the corners. “Is this a… new type of seasonal activity? I know Halloween is coming up. Am I simply not vibing with the youth anymore?”

If Sora were any less shocked that Eraqus had unironically said ‘vibing’ he would probably be laughing very hard right now. The image of their usually stern head of police, covered in glitter from Sora’s glitter bucket, asking if he’s not vibing with the youth, is a rather ridiculous sight to behold.

It doesn’t sound like his restraint is shared – he can hear Vanitas howling with laughter somewhere down the street from them. Eraqus’s face creases into a deeper frown.

“No,” Sora has to admit. “This is just an old fashioned, on purpose prank.”

Of course, in the worst moment possible Riku and Aqua turn the corner just behind Terra and Eraqus. Aqua simply narrows her eyes as she takes the entire scene in, while Riku tilts his head slightly and looks at Sora as if to ask what’s going on. Sora can only shrug one shoulder helplessly. There’s no way he can explain this without using his words.

“Sora,” Eraqus says slowly. He’s looking in the direction that Vanitas’s laughter is coming from. “Even if you try to claim that you acted alone, I know that is not the truth. I’m saddened by the fact that you’ve been roped into this somehow. Now, can you please start cleaning this all up.”

“Yes sir,” Sora squeaks. Luckily, he brought along cleaning supplies for just this purpose… Something that he’d arranged himself. Of course Vanitas hadn’t thought to cover that part of his prank.

Eraqus walks past him and Vanitas’s laughter cuts off suddenly.

“Do you know what’s going on?” Aqua asks Terra, who just shakes his head.

“I know you are behind the corruption of Sora, just like you corrupted my son,” Eraqus rumbles. Sora ducks his head, unwilling to get in the middle of that.

“Dad,” Ven complains. “Don’t be so dramatic.”

“How on earth did you get yourself into the middle of this?” Riku asks Sora.

“Long story,” Sora tells him.

Riku sighs. He’s got his swimming gear on, but he said he was taking the boat out today, so even though Aqua is with him he mustn’t have been training. Maybe he’ll agree to go out with Sora tomorrow – if he can clean all this glitter up, first…

“I’m going home,” Riku tells him. “I’ll make sure to have something for you for dinner, whenever you get back.”

“Thank you!” Sora says, grinning widely at him. Riku and Aqua pass him, and Sora concentrates on getting as much glitter cleaned up as possible.

* * *

“I’m home!”

Riku pushes open the door and dumps most of his things in their various places near the door. It’s not good to track too much salt water through the house, so the entrance is full of racks where things can dry, or can dry slightly to be fetched and put away properly later. There’s a delicious scent wafting through the air, and Riku toes off his shoes and breathes it in.

“Good evening,” Kairi sings from the kitchen. “Our other boy not with you? I didn’t think he was doing anything else after work, I made some dinner for him as well.”

“Oh you’re going to love this,” Riku says wryly, heading into the kitchen and sitting down at the bench. Kairi is moving about the kitchen efficiently, checking the pan on the stove and pouring water into the rice cooker.

Riku relates the strange sight that he had stumbled across in the main street of town, and Kairi side eyes him a bit.

“Glitter,” she says doubtfully.

“I think Sora is going to come home covered in it,” Riku tells her. “We’re going to be finding glitter for weeks.”

She laughs. “If it’s as bad as you say, we’ll probably be finding it for months. We could take him around the back and hose him off before he comes into the house?”

“That might work,” Riku allows. He can’t help but smile slightly as he recalls the sight. “It was… quite memorable. Eraqus and Terra were both pretty much completely covered.”

“I bet I’ll get to see,” Kairi says. “If Vanitas was behind it, there’s no way he didn’t set up a few cameras to make sure he got a good shot. We’ll probably all get cards in the mail with that photo in them.”

“That does sound like Vanitas,” Riku agrees. He’s just about to head upstairs to get the salt off him, but he pauses as he hears a strange sound come from the dining room. That door is closed, which is unusual, but he hadn’t thought to comment on it.

“Ahem,” Kairi says, but she’s staring very deliberately at what she’s cooking, and not at him.

“Kairi,” Riku says slowly. “What was that?”

The sound comes again. This time, Riku can say with almost complete certainty that it was a meow.

“Well you see,” Kairi says. “I might have… come across a cat today.”

“You might have,” Riku echoes.

“Might have,” Kairi agrees. “And I might have… taken him to see Aqua and get him checked over for a microchip and Aqua might have told me that he doesn’t have a microchip. And I might have booked him in for a proper vet visit tomorrow. Maybe.”

“Maybe,” Riku says doubtfully. Another meow comes from the dining room. It sounds like a very real and very not hypothetic cat.

“Okay, you caught me. I brought home a cat.” Kairi looks at him with her best innocent expression. “It was going to be a surprise for the weekend. You know Sora will love having a cat! He’s here more than either of us, and even though we call all the time you know it’s different when you don’t have someone to snuggle.”

“It’s true that we go to more competitions than him,” Riku says. “But do you really think a cat will help with that?”

“Definitely,” Kairi says firmly. “He loves snuggling everyone he can get his hands on, and this way he can cuddle a cute cat anytime he likes when we’re not here. As long as the cat likes him.” She frowns. “What if the cat doesn’t like being petted…”

Riku folds his hands over his mouth so that he can hide his smile. “I’m sure the cat will like Sora. Can you imagine anyone not liking Sora?”

“That’s true,” Kairi says, immediately reassured.

“I do have one question though,” Riku says. “If it’s supposed to be a surprise for the weekend, how are you going to keep it a surprise? Sora does live here, you know.”

“Ah,” Kairi says. “I did not think that far ahead.” She turns to him imploringly. “Riku can you please help me keep the cat a secret?” Her eyes are pleading, and Riku has never been able to say no to her, even when she’s asking for something ridiculous.

“Of course I’ll help you,” Riku sighs, and Kairi swoops over and plants a kiss on his forehead.

“Great! Now, we should probably come up with a plan…”

* * *

Kairi slings an arm over Sora’s shoulders when he finally arrives home that night. He looks pretty tired, but she doesn’t miss the sparkle of success in his eyes. For whatever reason he decided to prank Eraqus, it seems that he got what he wanted.

“Kairi? What are you still doing up?”

“Waiting for you of course,” she says, steering him through the house quickly. After all, she doesn’t want him accidentally wandering where she didn’t want him to be.

“You didn’t have to,” Sora yawns. “It’s pretty late.”

“I completely agree,” Kairi says. “You should brush your teeth and go to bed. Right away.”

“Uh… I was hoping to grab something to eat…”

Kairi huffs and plants him in the kitchen and doesn’t let him do anything besides watch her as she gets some food for him. He eats quickly under her watchful gaze, and Kairi tries not to fidget, thoughts on the cat in the back room.

After he’s done eating, she escorts him to the bathroom so he can brush his teeth, and then makes a tactical retreat back into their bedroom. Riku doesn’t move when she carefully slides into bed beside him, but he has to be awake because his next words are hushed.

“All going to plan?”

“All going to plan,” Kairi whispers back. She curls up into her pillow and listens to the water running in the bathroom. Step one: complete. Now to make sure everything else turns out just as well…

* * *

“We’re going where?”

Sora blinks blearily up at Riku. He’d gotten home at some ridiculous time last night, but for some reason Kairi had still been awake. Now, Riku is shaking him before the sun is even up, and Sora just kind of wants to sleep a little longer.

“Training with Aqua,” Riku repeats. “You know, to make sure we’re in top condition for our next comp? That thing we do to make money?”

“I know what training is,” Sora grumbles. “And I work at the bakery as well. Can’t I just skip today?”

“Nope,” Riku says. Mercilessly, he drags the sheets off of Sora and then proceeds to lift him out of bed. Sora squeaks, but held like this in Riku’s arms, he can’t really do anything about it but complain.

“Riku!”

“You looked like you were going to go right back to sleep,” Riku says wryly. He deposits him on his feet, and Sora presses his face against his chest so he doesn’t have to open his eyes. “Sora, come on,” Riku says, but Sora can hear his fondness even if he tries to hide it.

“Fine,” Sora sighs. “But only because you asked so nicely.”

“Good,” Riku nods. He puts his hand on Sora’s waist as he steers them both out of the bedroom, and Sora dreamily tries to focus on where he’s walking, and not on Riku’s warm skin.

* * *

The door bursts open. Riku looks up from where he’s sitting in the lounge room to see Kairi, cheeks flushed slightly.

“He’s coming!” Kairi yells. “Quick, pretend you’re not home but hide the cat!”

“The things I do for both of you,” Riku grumbles as he scoops up the cat. He purrs against his chest – really, the cat has gotten used to a pampered life very quickly.

Riku half closes the laundry door after him and scratches the cat’s ears as he listens to Sora and Kairi bang around in the kitchen for a few minutes, before the front door closes again and he’s left alone.

“Just one more day,” Riku tells the cat. He butts his head against his hand, asking for him to keep patting it. Riku wanders back out from the laundry and deposits the cat on the floor. He circles his legs and Riku tries not to smile fondly at him. “If you like me, I bet you’ll like Sora even more.”

The cat purrs slightly, and Riku takes that as an answer.

* * *

Kairi drags the cat toy across the ground. The cat pounces on it, and she teases it out of his grasp before starting again.

Sora had gone out this morning, which was good because it meant that she and Riku could cook up a really nice lunch and also let the cat out to play. Since they’ll be revealing him when Sora comes home anyway, Kairi isn’t too worried about playing with him in the middle of the floor like this.

“Have you come up with a name yet?” Riku asks.

“I still think we should wait until Sora knows about all this before we try to decide on a name,” Kairi insists.

“Sure, but we can come with some ideas, surely. Otherwise Sora’s going to name him… candy, or apple, or cake, or something.”

Kairi can’t help but giggle a little bit. “Maybe. He does usually have sweets on the mind. Does that mean that you’ve been thinking of ideas?”

Riku shifts his weight, and he’s looking at the wall suddenly, so Kairi takes that for a yes.

“We’ll come up with a great name,” Kairi tells him firmly. “I believe in us.”

Riku’s eyebrow quirks.

The door opens, and Kairi turns to find Sora staring at the cat. He’s holding a large box, but Kairi is quickly distracted from that as a wide smile breaks out over his face.

“A cat! It’s so cute!”

He detours via the table and puts the box down on it, giving Riku a quick kiss on the way. He hops over and sits opposite Kairi, clearly interested in the new addition to their household. The cat is regarding him warily, but Sora slowly offers out his hand and the cat sniffs it. Sora starts patting him, and the cat accepts it.

“So cute!” Sora exclaims.

“We thought you’d like him,” Riku says. Kairi grins up at him, and he’s leaning against the table, with a smaller box in his hands. “Now that we’re all here, I can give you this, Kairi.”

He hands her the box, and she pries it open to find eight Thalassa shells inside, all perfectly able to be carved into new good luck charms. “Riku!” she exclaims. “You found eight more? Where? I’ve been looking for months and I only have two!”

“Went diving for them,” Riku admits. There’s a dusting of pink over his cheeks, which is absolutely adorable.

“You can make new good luck charms for us, Kairi?” Sora asks, leaning forward to peer into the box. “That’s amazing!”

“It is amazing,” Kairi says warmly. “Now that I have enough, I can start making them right away.”

“And what did you bring?” Riku asks. He lifts the lid on the box that Sora brought and stills. Kairi tilts her head questioningly at Sora, who winks at her.

“This is from the bakery,” Riku says shortly. It is the type of box that the bakery uses for take away items, Kairi recognises.

“I got Vanitas to make it for you,” Sora admits. “I know that you always liked his apple pies the best, and that you’re sad that the bakery doesn’t have them anymore. It’s dessert that we can share after we have lunch!”

“That’s awesome,” Kairi says. She leans over and plants a kiss on Sora. “Heh. Sounds like we all got pretty good presents for each other this year.”

“Yeah,” Riku says fondly.

“Definitely!” Sora agrees. “Happy anniversary!”

With the company of her two best friends, on such a good day, Kairi can’t help but smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you Sam for the cute prompt! And thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed :D


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